Metal investors - do you also buy certified diamonds?

JDelage

I'm curious wrt certified diamonds as an inflation edge / investment / easily transportable cash. Do the gold investors here also buy certified diamonds? Why / why not?

Thanks,

JD

UncleWiggly

What's "wrt" mean?



Jerry

mrearlygold

I buy them

JDelage

<< <i>What's "wrt" mean? >>



"with regard to"

291fifth

I wouldn't touch diamonds with a ten foot pole.

Weiss

No no no no no no no. No way.

GAT

What 291fifth said. There's too many grades for diamonds and the markup is very large. You have to be an expert to play that market

JDelage

<< <i>I wouldn't touch diamonds with a ten foot pole. >>



Why?

topstuf

Diamonds are ONLY feasible if you can buy them at TRUE wholesale. NOT the "Rappaport" sheet which is CALLED a wholesale source.

You will need something like a Lovelady sheet www.lovelady.com ......I think
which is SO damned low that you will ONLY buy them from an unknowledgeable dealer at their prices, but their prices allow that you WILL make a profit.

Diamonds are ILLIQUID .....except at DEEP discounts.

It takes very little to learn about diamonds and the dealers try to make it a deep dark secret when the only REAL secret is that it is dumbfoundingly EASY to learn.

Scale, loupe, some gauges, a "master stone" set to determine color (available in cubic zirconia so they can be cheap) and a few looks at some stones. I believe Lovelady also publishes a VERY handy illustrated quick reference manual to determine the inclusions and thus the grade.

relayer

I've heard than man-made diamonds are becoming so well made that experts have trouble identifying them now.

streeter

I watched a dealer at a show buy them. He zapped them with the little penknife indicator for authenticity and bought them REAL low. The people selling were other dealers buying scrap gold w/ diamonds and they had no expectations on price other than walking money.

"yea, pretty ring--those real? ---YEP. ----let me see---zap--Yea, they're real--Ok, I'll give you 250 for the stones.--- Fine.

60 second deals. Puts them in his display case in a casino shop in Vegas.

TorinoCobra71

No I Dont Buy Diamonds. I cant afford them!



TorinoCobra71

BigE2

Not certified ones. I love buying estate jewelry. Use a diamond pen to verify and I tend to buy from people I know. Don't resell much, most of it goes to the wife or sell to friends and families.

slipgate

I'll state the obvious - Diamonds are a completely artifical market. They are not rare - at all. That said, it is possible that one day, the market may crash and the commoness of diamonds will become a reality. This may not happen in our lifetime, as the market is well controlled and organized, but one day, it will.

OffMetal

I would also not touch diamonds unless I get them in rings at a yard sale for a few bucks, but I do have a few.

Diamonds are more common than they really are. Isn't there a company that holds millions of carats of diamonds, and releases a very small percentage of them?

-Ben

Freak1c

I have several Diamonds I had bought for the wife years ago, all except two are above a karat. But I no longer buy them as an investment.

Freak

BillJones

When I buy jewelry items, I buy them with the intent to enjoy them and consider the funds spent to just that spent.

The diamond market is a contrived mess. The supply is limited by the powers at be (e.g. De Beers), and the only people who really make money are those provide the supply and jewelers who sell the stuff a huge mark-ups.

Diamonds are even less of an investment than coins for the average person. Unless you are a jewelry professional, be advised to stay away if your intent is to make money.

CharlieB

<< <i>I wouldn't touch diamonds with a ten foot pole. >>



or with a 20 ft pole. My policy has always been not to
throw $$ at things I don't know.

BobaFett72

a completely artifical market...as Im sure has been mentioned already. One of the biggest scams going. Money is better spent on other things.

Burks

<< <i>I've heard than man-made diamonds are becoming so well made that experts have trouble identifying them now. >>



Yup. Eventually it will get to the point where they can't tell them apart, no matter who the expert is. It's a large market with lots of money to be made.

JDelage

Fascinating... Thanks all.

dcarr

Diamonds are pure carbon.
All you have to do is take ordinary carbon (which is everywhere) and get the molecular bonds arranged properly.
All it takes is a lot of heat and pressure. It is being done right now in many laboratories. Diamonds are not rare.

Gold, silver, platinum, etc. are elements, like carbon, but much rarer than carbon. The only way to manufature a particular element out of ordinary matter is to use a nuclear process. Very tiny amounts of gold have been made in this manner. But it is extremely expensive, difficult, and hazardous to do so. And there can also be radioactive by-products to deal with.

I wouldn't buy diamonds. I didn't even buy a diamond for my wife's engagement ring. I bought a nice tanzanite instead (long before it became popular).

fishcooker

I considered it but found the Bid/Ask spread to be unrealistically large. Being a "long term" investors to me is 10 years, and I doubt that is enough time to gain both inflation and the bid/ask spread in diamonds.